Think back to when you were a kid getting ready to head back to school for the new semester.  You probably had all sorts of questions in anticipation of that first day:  what will my teachers be like?  who's going to be in my classes?  will the cafeteria food ever improve?

But there's one question you probably never even thought about that will be  asked by a growing number of school children this year:  where am I going to sleep?  to study?  to live?

The number of homeless students in the United States will reach nearly 1 million this school year.  There will be over 1600 of them right here in Elgin School District U-46 where our main office is located.  And all the experts agree that the number is vastly under-reported.

When families lose their homes due to such causes as job loss, spousal abandonment, or disability, they not only plunge into poverty, but into homelessness.  They may have a roof over their head, but it may not be the same roof every night.  They may find someone to take them in for a couple weeks, or even a couple months, but it is not permanent and reliable housing. 

Imagine if these children have to bounce from school to school as well.  How can they fit in?  How can they succeed?  Statistics demonstrate they can not.  That is why the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act was passed to prohibit districts from denying enrollment to a student living out of the district as parents transition through homelessness.